{"id":398,"date":"2016-12-01T00:24:51","date_gmt":"2016-12-01T00:24:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bellevillecursillo.org\/?p=398"},"modified":"2016-12-01T00:24:51","modified_gmt":"2016-12-01T00:24:51","slug":"school-of-leaders-december-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bellevillecursillo.org\/?p=398","title":{"rendered":"School of Leaders – December 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our Life Defined<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Covetousness, as it is referred to in some Bible scripture, can cause us to make choices and decisions that we normally wouldn’t make if we were to look at things through the eyes of common sense.\u00a0 But because of all of the subliminal marketing messages, our brains have been trained to think a certain way, and we make most choices without thinking much about them.<\/p>\n

There’s no doubt that we live in a materialistic world; it’s all around us, no matter where we look.\u00a0 The world is in one awful mess.\u00a0\u00a0 Our culture has created this mess\u2026it\u2019s too busy, it\u2019s too noisy, there is too much going on in our lives.\u00a0 The reality is, it is affecting our lifestyle.<\/p>\n

As a result, what\u2019s happening causes us to get distracted from our relationship with God to the point that the world itself starts to become our priority.\u00a0 After all, God made some pretty cool stuff for our enjoyment.\u00a0 Even He said it was all \u201cvery good,\u201d back in the Book of Genesis (1:31).\u00a0 The problem is that all too often the pleasures of this world have our full attention.\u00a0 For most people there\u2019s no room for anything else.\u00a0 This is the difficult situation in which Christianity now finds itself.\u00a0 The things of God are nowhere near the forefront of most people\u2019s minds.<\/p>\n

It’s important that we not let all that we desire distract us from our walk with God.\u00a0\u00a0 As Matthew (16:26) says, \u201cWhat profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life?\u201d\u00a0 Not a single thing here on earth will profit us in lieu of securing our eternity in heaven.<\/p>\n

The Gospel of Matthew (6:19-21) states, \u201cDo not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal.\u00a0 But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal.\u00a0 For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.\u201d<\/p>\n

So many times we’re not satisfied unless we’re constantly getting bigger and better things.\u00a0 We buy homes that have more room than we know what to do with.\u00a0 Or we keep adding on and\/or improving them so they feature the newest and best in amenities.\u00a0 And the cars we drive get more and more expensive, sporting the newest in luxuries, the fastest engines or the latest and greatest in technology.<\/p>\n

With all that we have or can have, there seems to be this discontent in our lives.\u00a0 And as we become more discontent, we spend more time and effort pursuing things, instead of pursuing God.\u00a0 But God warns us about this in Deuteronomy (5:21), \u201cNeither shall you covet your neighbor\u2019s wife.\u00a0 Neither shall you desire<\/u> your neighbor\u2019s house, or field, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Hebrews (13:5) tells us; \u201cLet your life be free from love of money but be content with what you have, for He has said, I will never forsake you or abandon you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bottom line: How is your life defined?\u00a0 I was struck by this question as it was posed to us in a recent Homily.\u00a0 Something to meditate on – Is it defined by the 3 P\u2019s \u2013 Pride, Possessions, and Power, or by the 3 T\u2019s \u2013 Time, Talent, and Treasure?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our Life Defined Covetousness, as it is referred to in some Bible scripture, can cause us to make choices and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bellevillecursillo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bellevillecursillo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bellevillecursillo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bellevillecursillo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bellevillecursillo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=398"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bellevillecursillo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":399,"href":"https:\/\/bellevillecursillo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398\/revisions\/399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bellevillecursillo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bellevillecursillo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bellevillecursillo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}